Humans of New York

[TBF]

It's a fantastic facebook page in which folks on the street are asked questions. Often they talk about their significant others, experiences in their lives, etc. Today the topic is economic. I decided to share it here because it is so spot on.

Humans of New York
Monday, October 6 at 9:04am


"If they raise the subway fare one more time, I'm going to explode. I'm making nine dollars an hour. I walk home three hours from work every day to save that $2.50, because that's a half gallon of milk for me and my daughter. And every time they raise the fare, they have a 'hearing.' But they aren't hearing anything. It's a fucking joke. If you go to one of those 'hearings,' every single person stands up and says: 'Don't raise the fare.' Then they raise it anyway. Oh man, it burns me up. 'We need the money,' they say, 'America is hurting.' That's bullshit! If I see one more TV program bragging about multimillion dollar homes I'm gonna scream. How about a fucking TV program that shows me if there is anywhere in this city that I can fucking afford to live anymore. I'm sorry, but it's burning me up."





Humans of New York website: http://www.humansofnewyork.com/

Brandon if you see this - you rock.

[closeupready]

1. Thanks for the post. There was a very interesting NY Daily News op-ed today

about a journalist who left New York after a lifetime here and moved to rural Colorado - and he LOVES it. And the anecdotes from others are equally interesting:

>>Recently I asked several old friends — all, like me, born-and-raised middle-class New Yorkers — if they still liked living here.

I was curious because, a year ago, as a freelance magazine writer unconstrained by workplace, I headed west to a small town in Colorado, where rents are low, life is relaxed and the landscapes are wild and beautiful. A beer at a bar runs a buck-fifty, a big meal for two at a decent restaurant $15.

My poll produced some very angry commentary about the outrageous cost of living in a city Mayor Bloomberg once described as “a luxury product” and about the takeover of neighborhoods, especially in parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, by the super-rich, who drive rents up and character out.

“The city is almost entirely about money now,” said Dave, 39, a Manhattan contractor. “A dead place full of people so tired and overworked they don’t remember what it feels like to feel good.”<<

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/christopher-ketcham-new-york-city-article-1.1963991

I'm a longtime resident here who can only +1 almost all of these remarks. Life for the middle class is getting worse every year - not so bad that it's a shock, but just enough so that, over time, when you assess where you were 10 years ago and where you are now, you're like, 'why the FUCK am I struggling when I'm doing everything the same way I was doing back THEN?'

[TBF]

2. I think it's happening all over the country -

and possibly we'd notice it most in a city like NYC or LA because the gap is so wide between the very rich and very poor. Frankly I don't see how anyone can deny how bad it has gotten.

[2naSalit]

3. It is everywhere.

I live in a town of about 1100 and it is blatantly evident to everyone here that we live in an oligarchic situation with little hope of escaping it in the near future. Most of we little people know, every day, just how bad it is and has been for some time now.